Design and Portrayal
Leon was created by Hideki Kamiya as a contrast to the male protagonist of the original Resident Evil, Chris Redfield, who Kamiya felt was the "blunt, tough-guy type". Though Kamiya admitted that while he was a fan of a character like Chris, as it had already been done, he opted to take Leon's development in a different direction. He was surprised at how popular Leon had become, praising his evolution into a "cool looking guy" for Resident Evil 4, adding that he "fell in love all over again." He was created for Resident Evil 2 as the staff wanted to use a character who had no experience with terrifying situations in contrast to use returning characters. While he was originally designed as a veteran police officer, he was changed to a rookie after the original version of Resident Evil 2 (now known as "Resident Evil 1.5") was scrapped. Leon's design was inspired by the bloodhound of Capcom artist Isao Ohishi.
Leon was announced as Resident Evil 4's protagonist in November 2002. As the game was developed, it was intended that would Leon be infected with the Progenitor virus. This concept was expanded in 2004, where Leon was meant to contract a bizarre disease in his fight against the game's enemies. In a documentary explaining the conception of the game's characters, it was stated that Leon was intended to "look tougher, but also cool". His face in Resident Evil 4 was modeled after the game's animation department director Christian Duerre.
During development of Resident Evil: Degeneration, Kamiya said he would like to make another game starring Leon as the main character. Resident Evil 5's producer Jun Takeuchi said that the series' fans "would really love" a video game featuring both Leon and Chris as the protagonists due to their popularity, and at the same time, it would be "pretty dramatic" if the two characters never met if the series ended. Resident Evil 6's producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi took a liking to Leon and decided to include him in the game since "he is central to the story."
Leon is voiced by Paul Haddad in Resident Evil 2, and Paul Mercier in Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil: Degeneration and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. In the RE2 commercial directed by George A. Romero, Leon was portrayed by Brad Renfro. About Johann Urb's casting in Resident Evil: Retribution, the film's producer and director Paul W. S. Anderson said, "You have no idea how difficult it is to find someone with Leon Kennedy’s hair has to be manly and has to have these long bangs," adding that "if you put photographs of them side-by-side, it’s almost like he was manufactured by Capcom."
Urb said that he learnt the video game Leon's mannerisms from watching clips posted on YouTube, commenting that "he doesn’t have a high-pitched voice. I feel like he talks how I naturally talk, which is kind of slower." Speaking about the relationship between Leon and Ada, Urb said: "It's kind of like Mulder and Scully and an X-Files type of deal, where you're waiting for it to happen, but it never does. Maybe in the next one, I'm hoping."
Read more about this topic: Leon S. Kennedy
Famous quotes containing the words design and/or portrayal:
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